Pentecost; May 18, 2008; Bethel Lutheran Church, Rochester.
Acts 2:1-21.

Dear Friends in Christ, Grace to you and Peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. AMEN.


Welcome to both Mother’s Day and Pentecost, 2008! All Moms are unique, of course. Joan Torello says her mother is notorious for her lead foot. Joan was not at all surprised to hear that a Georgia State Trooper had pulled her mother over for speeding as she raced through the state on the way home to Florida. Hoping to get off with a warning, she tried to appear shocked when the officer walked up to her car. “I have never been stopped like this before,” she said to the officer. “What do they usually do, ma’am,” he asked, “shoot the tires out?”

Dr. Tony Campolo is a well-known and highly-respected, inspirational speaker. Over the last several years, Tony Campolo has spent much of his time traveling around the world on speaking tours. Frequently, his wife, Peggy, who has been a stay-at-home mom, accompanies her husband and finds herself in powerful circles.

After one such trip, Peggy told Tony that sometimes as she visits with these
influential people, she finds herself feeling intimidated and even questioning her own self-worth. Tony said to her: "Well, honey, why don't you come up with something you could say when you meet people that will let them know that you strongly value what you do and you feel that it is dramatically urgent and crucial and important?”

Well, not long after that, they were at a party when a woman said to Peggy in a rather condescending tone, "Well, my dear, what do you do?" Campolo heard his wife say: "I am nurturing two Homo Sapiens into the dominant values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might become instruments for the transformation of the social order into the kind of eschatological utopia God envisioned from the beginning of time."
And the other woman said: "O, my, I'm just a lawyer."

Are there more important jobs than being a good mother? Most of us were blessed to have good, even great mothers. And that is not only true for the traditional concept of mother, but for all women who nurture others in their home or work life. In our city I often think of nurses, both women and men, who use their skills to nurture others to better health.

A schoolmaster in France was discouraged with one of his students. He wrote in his roll book concerning this student: "He is the smallest, the meekest, the most unpromising boy in my class." Half a century later, an election was held in France to select the greatest Frenchman. By popular vote, that meekest, smallest, most unpromising boy was chosen. His name? Louis Pasteur, the founder of modern medicine. At age seventy-three, a national holiday was declared in his honor. He was too old and weak to attend the ceremony in Paris, so he sent a message to be read by his son. The message read: "The future belongs not to the conquerors but to the saviors of the world."

Louis Pasteur was driven by a great purpose. Your name and my name may never be a household word like Pasteur's, but we, too, can be driven by a great purpose. Christ can give us that purpose. But there is one thing more Christ gives us. He gives us the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And even as we celebrate mothers today, we celebrate the birth of that which has brought us to this place. For on Pentecost, God gave birth to his Christian church through the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Erasmus, the famous Renaissance scholar, once told a classic story which was
designed to emphasize how important it is that we take up the torch of Christ's ministry with great commitment. In the story, Jesus returns to heaven after His time on earth. The angels gather around Him to learn what all happened during His days on earth. Jesus tells them of the miracles, His teachings, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.

When He finishes his story, Michael the Archangel asks Jesus, "But what happens now?" Jesus answers, "I have left behind eleven faithful disciples and a handful of men and women who have faithfully followed me. They will declare My message and express My love. These faithful people will build My church." "But," responds Michael, "What if these people fail? What then is Your other plan?" And Jesus answers, "I have no other plan!"

Jesus is counting on you and you and you and me. But the good news is, we
are not alone. The Holy Spirit is here to melt us, mold us, fill us, and use us.

The spirit is among us just as powerfully as the day of Pentecost when 3,000 people were added to the number of believers in a single day! How is that, you say? I can’t see the spirit. I can’t touch the spirit. Nor can you touch your mother’s love, but most have little trouble believing in that. Sometimes the spirit moves powerfully, as when a mother is protecting her child. Sometimes the spirit is just comfortably there, as when a mother is praying for her child.

Once upon a time there was a piece of iron, which was very strong and very hard. Many attempts had been made to break it, but all had failed.

"I'll master it," said the axe. and his blows fell heavily upon the piece of iron, but every blow only made the axe's edge more blunt, until it finally ceased to strike and gave up in frustration. "Leave it to me," said the saw. and it worked back and forth on the iron's surface until its jagged teeth were all worn and broken. Then in despair,
the saw quit trying and fell to the side. "Ah!" said the hammer, "I knew you two wouldn't succeed. I'll show you how to do this!" But at the first fierce blow, off flew its head and the piece of iron remained just as before, proud and hard and unchanged.

"Shall I try?" asked the small soft flame. "Forget it," everyone else said. "What can you do? You're too small and you have no strength." But the small soft flame curled around the piece of iron, embraced it. and never left it until it melted under its warm irresistible influence.

How is the spirit moving in you these days? Is it roaring like a violent wind and tongues of flame? Perhaps it is burning gently in your heart—but even the gentle fire will do its work.

We at Bethel are called to be a church of Pentecost. We are called to be the people of God’s plan—he doesn’t have another plan, folks—we’re it! And we have the gift of the Holy Spirit to move forward. I suspect that the wind will blow some towards Mexico this summer and some towards Tanzania in a year. I suspect that the fire will warm the hearts of those who offer a kind word to others as we care for our brothers and sisters. I suspect the wind may blow some of you to help in the Interfaith Hospitality Network which helps families in need—a ministry we are only beginning here at Bethel.

Oh, there are so many ways for God to work out his plan in a Pentecost church. Over the next months at Bethel we are going to be renewing our work on a plan that will help us better define our work in this community and in the world. Even as thousands of voices came together in that first Pentecost, so we are looking for thousands of voices to join together so that our “young men will see visions,” our “old men will dream dreams.” “Even on (God’s) servants, both men and women, (God) will pour his (his) Spirit in those days.”

I want to be a part of that church. May God’s spirit blow mightily in our midst that we may call upon the name of the Lord! AMEN.